College Reunions and Clues: A Cozy Tiffany Black Travel Mystery by A.R. Winters

Author:A.R. Winters [Winters, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“There has to be snow gear somewhere in here,” Richard said. “They’d have to dig out a few times a year.”

We found switches. Turned on some lights. The harsh brightness didn’t offer much cheer or coziness.

“Is there a maintenance area somewhere?” Kelly asked. “Some staff room or something?”

I didn’t comment on the lack of staff we'd experienced here. Other than Ben the chef, and the name of the mysterious, unseen Raul, I was beginning to believe that Grant hadn’t hired any workers.

“There’s that shed out back,” Emma said. “It looks like a garden shed. There might be something there to help us.”

“How about some plain old gloves?” Richard said. “That would be a great start. Or a warmer coat.”

As a group, we moved through the lodge. Rosie and I took up the rear.

“You find anything?” I asked, low.

“Yeah. Maybe. The purse was full of snow, though. Some stuff got wet,” Rosie said. “I have the contents spread out on your bed. I already took pictures.”

Wait.

“You laid out the wet stuff on my bed?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t know it was so wet.”

“What about the suitcase?”

Rosie nodded. “Interesting stuff in there, too. Not what I was expecting. But at least it explains a few things.”

“Like what?”

We moved to the far end of the dining room and through a door I hadn’t been through before.

“You’ll see,” Rosie said. “There’s too much to go into.”

She nodded at the remnants of the travel club.

Rosie didn’t want them overhearing. Which made me all the more curious.

We entered a less renovated area of the lodge. There weren’t the sheetrock walls that dominated the guest part of the B&B. This was solid, wall to wall logs around concrete floors.

There was a door marked GENERATOR. That was good. With all this weather, I expected the lights to go out at any time. Buried power lines or not.

Tools hung over a workbench. Some pipes and fittings were atop the bench. Richard went through some drawers.

“Aha.” He pulled out a pair of worn work gloves. “Not the warmest, but better than nothing.”

“Keep looking,” Stan said.

We spread out. There wasn’t much in here. Boards that looked like flooring made a triangle against one wall. I saw a slop sink, bucket and mop. Stan looked in the sink. He pulled out a pair of heavy rubber gloves.

“These will work in a pinch, if we don’t find others,” he shrugged.

We found a broom closet. Mostly empty shelves, some with bottles of cleaners and chemicals, a stack of plywood, cans of fuel and oil.

“Maybe for the snowmobiles?” Emma tried to lift a large red can. It sloshed, but only rose a few inches off the ground. She grunted. “Full.”

Other than a couple of empty closets, there was no more to search.

“In the morning, maybe we can check out the gardening shed,” Emma said. “There may be more work gloves, more shovels. We can make short work of it if we all pitch in.”

The seven of us glanced around awkwardly.

“What now?” Susan asked. “Do we still have to watch each other?”

“You better believe it,” Stan said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.